The 2012 Steam Summer Sale is now on! The sale lasts through Sunday, July 22. Highlights include: nine Daily Deals every day, a community choice allowing gamers to vote on an upcoming sale, Flash Sales that last less than a full day, and of course, the usual Publisher Pack deals.

There are new meta-achievements related to Steam Badges and the Summer Sale. To see your badges and achievements go to Steam and click on "Community" -> "View my Profile" -> View X Badges." It is not known at this time if achievements for badges have any practical purpose.

During the Summer Sale, the standard components of the OP will be hidden behind a Spoiler tag below.

Welcome to the Steam Deal Thread V3! You can find the V1 thread (2010-July 2011) here and V2 thread here. Read post #2 of this thread for Steam FAQs and more.

This is a Wiki post. Please read this

Spoiler

We appreciate you helping keep this thread up to date. The sales change virtually every day so no one person has the time to update them all. If you notice a game is no longer on sale, feel free to delete its line from the sale list. Of course, if you see a game is on sale, add it to the list. Make sure your changes match the thread's format! For example, every game that's on sale is part of an unordered list. When adding a game to the list, copy an existing line and update the link, title, and prices. That way, the format stays correct. Do not list percentages off! We list the original price and the sale price here. If you have any suggestions for major changes to the post/thread, PM me (EastX) about them.

Several multiplayer Steam games are available in 2-packs or 4-packs. These packs offer a discount over buying multiple copies of a game separately. We also maintain group buy trade threads for several games, so please use those threads if you're interested in setting up a group buy.

There are several free games and mods on Steam. These are a few choice ones; you can find a full list here. Note that free games are not permanently attached to your Steam account like actual purchases would be. You'll need to manually download a game again from the website if you uninstall it.

If you are interested in joining the Steam CAG Community or participating in a trade or group buy with fellow Cheap Ass Gamers, please do so in the dedicated threads and not in the deal discussion thread. In the dedicated threads you will find CAGers with the same specialized interest who will be much quicker (and happier) to respond than in the Deals thread.

The CD Key is a serial number with a combination of 13, 18, or 25 letters and numbers - it can be found on a sticker inside your game's case or printed on the game's quick reference card.The CD Key acts as your proof of purchase for the game - Steam Support may ask for it if you need to establish your ownership of an account. It is recommended that you keep your CD Key in a safe place to ensure the security of your account.

Which retail CD Keys are accepted on Steam?

All retail Valve games and a number of third-party games can be registered to your Steam account. All of the following games can be registered through Steam:

Opposing Force CD-keys cannot be registered through Steam. Opposing Force was included in a retail Half-Life package. The Half-Life CD-key included in the package will unlock all of the games in that package, including Opposing Force.Note: Only the retail games listed above can be registered through Steam. No other retail games can be registered and downloaded using Steam.

Other Keys that can be redeemed on Steam (CAG tested & verified)The Ball (bought @D2D and tested by voken)Supreme Commander Forged Alliance (gives both FA and original, bought @amazon and tested by vism)

Steam Cloud! Many games like Torchlight offer Cloud support. Your save file is hosted online and accessible from wherever you play the game, so no need to manually transfer it to other computers. Look for the Steam Cloud image on a game's store page.

Automatic patching: Steam automatically downloads updates for your games whenever they are released. If you'd rather patch manually, click on that game's Properties/Update from the Library menu.

Friends list: The Steam friends list is also an instant messenger. Text message friends, voice chat, and easily invite friends to most games. You can also see which friends own the same games as you and compare Achievements from the Library menu.

Gifting games! You can buy games and then gift them to other people. Wishlists make this easy; maintain your own and view your friends' lists, too.

Incredible sales! There is a sale virtually every weekend, Black Friday, during the holidays, and more.

Steam Play: Purchase a game once and play it from both Windows and Mac! Look for the Steamplay icon on games' store pages.

CAG Steam Groups

By joining a CheapAssGamer Steam group, you'll be able to find CAGs to play with, participate in group events, and more. This is a list of all known CAG groups. If you start a new group, please PM me with details. Note that while most of these groups are public, the private groups require an invite to join.

I bought a retail copy of a game.ORI bought a game from another downloadable games provider besides Steam.

Can I download it from Steam without rebuying it?

You can do this for some games (especially those whose retail versions automatically use Steam). Most games don't support the feature though. See the full list here.

How do I add non-Steam games to my Steam library? Why would someone want to do that?

From the Library menu, choose Add a Game and then Add a Non-Steam Game. Select the game's executable file and you'll now be able to launch it directly from Steam. This is a good idea for two reasons. One, launching all of your games from the same place is convenient. Two, when you launch a Non-Steam Game from your Steam library, people on your friends list will be able to see what you're playing.

Why is X game more expensive on Steam than other retailers? Is buying from Steam not a good deal?

Steam generally offers games at their current MSRP. That means if Capcom wants to charge $30 for Street Fighter IV, that will be the regular Steam price. Yes, you might find the retail version on clearance at Target for less. But that's clearance, which you can't expect every other retailer to match. However, Steam has tons of sales which usually beat everyone else's prices.

When are the big Steam sales?

During the big Steam sales, Steam sells multiple games (sometimes hundreds) at large discounts. There is always a sale on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and an extended holiday sale (starting December 24 and lasting until the beginning of January). In 2010 and 2011 there have been extended summer sales too. If you're not in a hurry to play a game and want the best possible price, it's a good idea to wait for these large sales.

Do all Steam games work with controllers?

Just about all PC games can be controlled with mouse and keyboard. But some people are more comfortable with controllers, AKA gamepads, and some games just play better that way. The Xbox 360 controller is the default gamepad for modern PC games. Many games support it, but not all. Most games with controller support have a Controller Enabled graphic on their store pages. If a game doesn't have that graphic and doesn't mention controller support in its text description, assume it doesn't work with controllers. There is a partial list here. If you'd like to use a controller with a game that doesn't natively support it, the XPadder app works very well.

Now that we've got a new thread going, I would appreciate it if you guys could add any 2-packs or 4-packs that might be missing from the Group Buy list in the OP. Obviously I mean 2-packs or 4-paks of the same game, not complete packs, etc.

Dr. Strange CAG- Or how I learned to stop worrying and love cheap stuff.

Christianity: The belief that a Jewish cosmic zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat fruit from a magical tree.

So Red Faction Armageddon for $5. Thoughts? I thought the demo was meh, but it's also $5.

I bought it after playing the demo, even if it's just running through underground cities ripping things apart down a long passageway, I think it's a blast and for the price, well worth it. But then maybe I'm a masochist.

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